A produce mister is used in grocery stores to maintain produce products at a desired dampness. It has been determined that produce that is kept moist will have a longer shelf life and a better appearance than if allowed to dry out. However, the use of misters has to be carefully controlled. Produce that is wet opposed to moist is not appealing and excess water will cause decay of the display cases and surrounding structure and breeds bacteria that is prohibited by code.
A typical misting pattern is the spraying of a fine mist for about ten seconds recurring about every ten minutes. In a 72 foot produce display with misting nozzles spaced at 18" intervals, the total consumption of water is about 0.4 gallons.
Prior art misters typically include a long bar that extends the length of the produce display case and has nozzles at spaced intervals along the length of the bar. A water line is attached to each end of the bar and a sufficient pressure is applied through each line to generate the desired misting action at the nozzles throughout the length of the misting bar. Typically the channel through the bar which carries the water is between about 1/2" ID (inside diameter) to about 5/8" ID. The amount of water that is required to fill such channels (extended 72 feet) ranges between about 0.85 gallons to 1.16 gallons of water. Whereas a typical misting cycle uses only 0.4 gallons in ten minutes, at least three misting cycles are required to purge the channel or alternatively the channel is repeatedly purged to waste. More importantly, the water flow through the channel of the bar and into and through the nozzles is erratic and areas of very slow flow are developed, i.e., certain of the fresh water flows over and past the water in the channel. Water may stay in the channel for long periods of time and become breeding ground for unwanted bacteria. This problem is aggravated by the proximity of the bar to the UV light which is mounted proximate to the bar in most produce display cases.